Hawthorn Bancshares
HWBK on Nasdaq. Hawthorn Bancshares sells banking services to people and businesses through Hawthorn Bank. Market value $265m.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
We can't read total debt from the filing, so debt is left out.
Should I look at this?
Look carefully before going further
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
Read the warning sign in its own filings
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
Yearly profit per dollar of owners' money: 15 cents. Above 10 is good.
What you pay for each dollar of net assets: $1.45.
Profit per $100 you pay: $9.55.
Quality score: 94 of 100. Price score: 88 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$38.54 a share, 31% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $29.39 to $40.60.
Dividend: 2.0% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positiveDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
- Accounting checksDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
- DebtDoesn't apply to banks and insurers
- Revenue growth, five yearsUnknown
- Buying back its own sharesRoughly flat
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Profit: $7 million, up 20% on a year ago.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $28 million, up from $20 million.
- 1% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $5m |
| December 2024 | $5m |
| March 2025 | $5m |
| June 2025 | $6m |
| September 2025 | $6m |
| December 2025 | $6m |
| March 2026 | $6m |
| June 2026 | $7m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 5 March 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 5 November 2026
Who owns it
None of the long-term investors we follow own it. 69 funds in all.
Largest holders overall
- Ategra Capital Management$13m
- BlackRock$13mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$10m
- FJ Capital Management$7m
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$6mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$6mAdded
- State Street$3mAdded
- Bridgeway Capital Management$3m
- Northern Trust$2mAdded
- Pinnacle Holdings$2m
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- Douglas EdenPassive investor9.4%Since 11 December 2025
- FJ Capital Management LLCPassive investorat least 4.8%(filed with 2 related holders)Since 31 December 2024
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Douglas Eden Passive investor | 9.4% | 11 December 2025 | |
FJ Capital Management LLC Passive investor | at least 4.8% (filed with 2 related holders) | 31 December 2024 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $50,000 of shares on the open market.
- Hettinger Shawna M.DirectorBought
- Date
- 27 August 2026
- Shares
- 654
- Price
- $38.20
- Value
- $25,000
- Hettinger Shawna M.DirectorBought
- Date
- 26 August 2026
- Shares
- 645
- Price
- $38.75
- Value
- $25,000
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 August 2026 | Hettinger Shawna M. Director | Bought | 654 | $38.20 | $25,000 |
| 26 August 2026 | Hettinger Shawna M. Director | Bought | 645 | $38.75 | $25,000 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
1 serious warning sign in Hawthorn Bancshares’ filings.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 5 Mar 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 6 Aug 2026 and 8 later 8-Ks.
Weak checks on its own accounts
SeriousThe company said its checks on its own accounts did not work at the end of its latest quarter. Mistakes could slip into the numbers.
“Based upon and as of the date of that evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting described below.”
Show the full paragraph
Our Company’s management has evaluated, with the participation of our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of June 30, 2026. The term “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a - 15(e) and 15d - 15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, means controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file and submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarized and reported as and when required. Based upon and as of the date of that evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting described below.
From the 10-Q filed 6 August 2026, Part I, Item 4. Controls and Procedures. Read it in the filing
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.